Katie Dowty - Women's Rugby Coach - Dartmouth College Athletics

Katie Dowty

Title:
Head Coach
Alma Mater:
Harvard ’06
Email:
Kathryn.B.Dowty@Dartmouth.edu
Phone (603):
603-646-6970
At Dartmouth:
11th Year (2015-)

July 2025

Katie Dowty is entering her 11th year at the helm of the women's rugby team in 2025. She became the first varsity head coach of the Dartmouth women's rugby program when she was hired in June 2015. The Big Green have won three NIRA championships with Dowty at the helm.

2024: Dartmouth returned to the NIRA National Championship game for the fourth striaght season as they went 8-1 in 15s play as they were the national runner-up. Dartmouth landed eight players on the All-NIRA team with four being first team, three being second team, and one being an honorable mention. Cindy Taulava and Sia Meni were nominees for the MA Sorensen Award while Taulava was one of three finalists. For the first time in program history, the Big Green had a perfect 7s season as Dartmouth captured the CRAA 7s National Championship while finishing the season with a 13-0 record.

2023: The Big Green compiled a 6-3 record in the 2023 season which included a 4-1 NIRA record and a 4-1 record on the road. Dartmouth advanced to the NIRA Championship game to take on Harvard. Dartmouth landed eight student-athletes on the All-NIRA team with four student-athletes being named to the First XV. Nine members of the Big Green tallied more than 20 points while Asialeata Meni led the team with 10 tries and 50 points. Abbey Savin led the team with 19 conversions.

2022: Dartmouth went undefeated for a second straight season on its way to the third NIRA title in program history. The Big Green defeated Quinnipiac in the semifinal before downing Harvard, 15-5, in the championship match, which the Big Green hosted at Burnham Field. Ariana Ramsey scored both Dartmouth tries and was named Most Valauble Player. Dowty's squad earned its third consecutive Ivy championship, having defeated Harvard, Princeton and Brown in the regular season. Kristin Bitter, one of Dartmouth's program-best eight All-NIRA First XV honorees, was a finalist for the MA Sorensen Award.

2021: The NIRA trophy came to Hanover for a second time after the Big Green's first undefeated season. Dartmouth rolled through the regular season slate averaging just over 57 points per match before taking down fourth-seeded Brown in postseason action and ultimately toppling third-seeded Army West Point 28-18 for the NIRA crown. Seven players received All-NIRA recognition following the season, while Idia Ihensekhien became the second player in program history to win the MA Sorensen Award.

Year	W	L
2015	10	8
2016	7	2
2017	8	1
2018	9	1
2019	3	3
2020	-	-
2021	9	0
2022	9	0
2023	6	3
2024	8	1
Total	69	19

2020: There was no season due to COVID-19. For the first time, the team received an Academic All-Ivy at-large nomination, and Emily Henrich was tabbed to the team.

2019: Dartmouth went 3-3, defeating Brown and Quinnipiac during the regular season. The Big Green took down defending Ivy Rugby Champion Harvard to win its fourth title in the last five seasons. Two weeks later, Dartmouth went back to Cambridge for face the Crimson again, falling in the NIRA Semifinal by just one point. After the season, Kristin Bitter and Lauren Ferridge were selected for Winter Camp 2019. Marin Pennell was named Academic All-Ivy, while she, Idia Ihensekhien, Ariana Ramsey, Bitter and Sophia Haley were tabbed to the All-NIRA Tier I Team.

2018: Dartmouth went 9-1, starting the year off on a six-game winning streak before stumbling against Harvard in the Ivy Rugby Championship. The Big Green came back stronger for the NIRA Championship, downing Brown in the quarterfinal and Army West Point in the semifinal to make it to the final for the second year in a row. Playing in the snow on Scully-Fahey Field, Dartmouth defeated Harvard, 19-14, to win its first-ever NIRA National Championship title. Camille Johnson was named MVP at the end of the game. A few months later, Johnson received the Class of 1976 Award and Ashley Dupuis won the Class of 1950 Award at the Celebration of Excellence. Emily Henrich and Kat Ramage were named MA Sorensen Award finalists, with Henrich winning. Ale Ada was named the Guam Sports Network Athlete of the Year and Johnson was selected to the Academic All-Ivy Team. Five members of the team were named NIRA All-Americans: Johnson, Idia Ihensekhien, Milla Anderson, Ramage and Henrich.

2017: The Big Green had their best season in the three years since they made the jump to varsity status. They ended the year with a record of 8-1, going undefeated through the first two months of the season and holding the top spot in the nation for five of those contests. Dartmouth won the Ivy Rugby title for the third year running, taking down Harvard. From there, the Green defeated AIC in the NIRA Quarterfinal and Harvard in the semifinal, advancing to the national championship for the first time. Dartmouth played well, but ultimately fell to defending champion Quinnipiac.

2016: The Big Green went 7-2 during the team's second year as a varsity program. Dartmouth had regular-season wins over AIC, Brown, Columbia, Harvard and Princeton before sweeping its way through the Ivy Rugby Championship, defeating Brown and Harvard to win its second straight title. The Green saw their season come to an end in the NIRA Quarterfinal with a 33-29 loss to AIC. Ashli Cook was named Academic All-Ivy, while Danielle Ramsay, Frankie Sands, Kat Ramage and Morgan McGonagle were named NIRA NCAA All-Americans. Sands was also named a finalist for the Sorensen Award.

2015: In her first season at the helm of the Big Green, Dowty guided the Big Green to the 2015 Ivy Rugby Women's Championship by beating Princeton (44-5) and Brown (19-12) at the tournament held in Hanover. The win over the Bears to clinch the title came after falling behind 12-0 at halftime, only to see Dowty's team score the final 19 points of the contest for the win. In all, Dartmouth finished the year 7-2 with its only regular season loss coming at the hands of top-ranked and eventual national champion Quinnipiac. Dartmouth qualified for the first ever National Collegiate Women’s Varsity Rugby Association (NCWVRA) Varsity 15s Tournament Championship, falling in a close contest to regional rival Norwich, 14-7.

A 2006 graduate of Harvard, Dowty is a former player and captain with the Crimson. After graduation, she moved on to the Beantown Rugby Club from 2006 to 2011, where she served as a player, captain and fundraising chair.

Dowty brings a wealth of international experience to the Big Green as well. A member of the USA Rugby national team from 2010 to 2014, she played with both the 7s and 15s in her four years and made 12 tours as part of the IRB Women’s Sevens World Series.

In that time period with Team USA, Dowty was named the Goff Rugby Report’s 7s Player of the Year in 2011.

One of eight original women in the U.S. to sign on professionally by USA Rugby to play 7s and train full-time at the Olympic Training Center in California, Dowty helped lay the foundation for individuals to enter the newly established program in the years to follow.

Dowty first began coaching as a volunteer with her alma mater in 2009, but it wasn’t until after her time with the national team that she really started making the move into the coaching field. During the spring of 2014, she worked at American International as an assistant working with backs as the Yellow Jackets’ playoff run culminated in a third-place finish at the Division I USA Rugby National Championship.

Prior to her time in Hanover with the Big Green, Dowty has been in the Pacific Northwest, working as an assistant at Central Washington University where she and her fellow coaches have established the first high-performance varsity women’s rugby program on the West Coast. Not only did she help cultivate and advance a program to full NCAA status, but also built a winner in the process as the Wildcats claimed second place in the 7s national championship in May 2015, falling to Penn State in the title contest.